Congratulations on being accepted into ESEA’s Rank G platform. We’re excited to have you here and we hope you’re excited to be here. This handbook will serve as your official guide and contains rules and regulations that all players in Rank G must abide by. Failure to read this handbook is not an excuse when failing to comply to the rules and regulations that are listed within.

ESEA and its partners, reserve the right to change the handbook at any time. Failure to read or understand the changes made are not an excuse when failing to comply.

In the rules and regulations that follow, mentions of the ESEA Community Manager refer to Mark ‘Boq’ Wilson. Any additional questions about the information contained within can be directed to him via the ESEA discord.

2 - LOCATION

Any player competing in Rank G is required to qualify and play from the region they currently reside in. In the event that a player qualifies in any region (ex: Brazil) and is required to move for any reason to a new location that would put him in a different region (ex: North America), they must contact an admin and request a transfer. Players looking to exploit this region transfer in an effort to manipulate the qualification process will be liable to punishment, as listed in the chart in Section 18.

3 - CODE OF CONDUCT

As a player in Rank G, you will be held to a high standard. It’s important as players to maintain a professional environment in all manners possible. As such, the following are forms of inappropriate behavior that may be deemed punishable by ESEA and its admin staff:

Any player believed to have violated the rules above will speak to the ESEA Community Manager regarding the violation and will be issued punishment based on the chart in Section 18. ESEA and its staff reserve the right to withhold punishment for the above terms as we see fit.

The following behaviors are entirely unacceptable and can result in an immediate removal from Rank G and a ban from the ESEA platform as a whole.

Any player believed to have violated the rules above will speak to the ESEA Community Manager regarding the violation and will be issued punishment based on the severity of the issue. Players violating this portion of the conduct policy will be expected to apologize in a public manner for their actions before ever being considered for reinstatement in the Rank G platform.

In the instance that you as a player believe that another player has violated the Code of Conduct, please make a support ticket citing the specific user, description of the violation and a link to the match where the violation took place. Our admin team will investigate to determine if a punishment is necessary.

4 - CHEATING

Under no circumstances should anyone seek to cheat in Rank G. If a player is convicted of cheating on the ESEA platform, they will be subsequently banned for a period of 2 years per ESEA policy. Additionally, they will be removed from Rank G and not re-invited after their ban expires. Users wishing to compete in Rank G after receiving a cheating ban, will have to qualify again via the Rank A+ system. These players are not eligible to invited back nor will they be moved directly should they meet the reasons specified in Section 14.

5 - SERVER LOCATIONS

All matches in Rank G will be played on the ESEA client in the following server locations based on the current region(s) of play:

North America: Dallas, DenverEurope: Frankfurt

Any connection issues with any server should be reported to our technical department through a support ticket. Support tickets will get you connected with our tech team and the information you provide will better help us resolve your issue. Your ticket could also prove beneficial to future users experiencing similar problems.

6 - COMMUNICATION

Communication is an important aspect to a game such as CS:GO. Players are not just urged to use their mics for the game, it is required. Not having a microphone or communication device is not a valid excuse for violating this rule. Further, muting your team or yourself or disconnecting from the voice communication server at any time is not acceptable. Abusing the voice communication server or in game voice communication system by spamming ones microphone or joining channels for teams and games you are not a part of is also unacceptable behavior. Any player caught doing any of the above, may be subject to punishment as seen in the chart in Section 18. If you believe a player has committed such offenses, please report these issues through a support request on the ESEA website. If a player is ACTIVELY committing such offenses, requests to resolve the issue immediately may be made directly to the Community Manager or one of our dedicated admins.

7 - TEAM SELECTION

Rank G matches will start when 10 players queue simultaneously for Rank G and accept the match. At that point, the 2 captains will be selected and the picking of the team’s roster will begin in the following order:

A B B A A B B A

8 - MAP SELECTION

The maps played in Rank G will follow the maps played in the current competitive rotation, with some exceptions based on the popularity of the map prior to its removal from the rotation. The current maps are as follows:

Inferno, Nuke, Overpass, Mirage, Cache, Train and Dust 2.

Captains will select the maps by banning out maps they wish to not play until one is left. The ban order is:

B, A, B, A, B, A, B

9 - MATCH FORMAT

All Rank G matches are BO1.

Knife Round: Players will start the game with a knife round. Winner selects side start.Regulation: Rank G games will play a total of 15 rounds before switching sides at halftime. Servers will be running the same competitive configuration as ESEA/ESL league servers. In the event of a 15-15 tie score, overtime MUST be played out.Overtime: Players remain on the team they were on during regulation and will play 3 rounds before swapping sides at half. Players will start each half with $16,000, the maximum allowable amount. Play will continue in this fashion until a winner can be found.

10 - POINTS

Once a match has concluded a player will receive 6 points for being on the winning team or will lose 4 points for being on the losing team. If you are to lose a game when you are 0 points, you cannot go negative and will remain at 0. Points on the leaderboard cannot be transferred to other players and are yours and yours alone. Points are non-redeemable and have 0 cash value. Points will be tracked weekly and seasonally.

11 - WEEKLY PRIZES

Throughout the course of a week, players will accumulate points as mentioned in Section 8 above. At the end of the playing week, the top 5 players with the most points will be rewarded with the following prizes:

Upon the start of a new play period, points will reset and players who won will be contacted by the ESEA prizes division on the email address associated with their ESEA account. In the event of a tie, the tied members will share the prizes equally. Example: 1st and 2nd place tie, the total prize is $725 which translates to $362.50. There is no limit to the number of players that can tie in a given play period.

12 - PAUSES

If for any reason a technical issue is to occur or a player needs to step away for any reason or a team wishes to take a timeout to talk over strategies, a pause can be initiated by either team. Upon pausing the game, a reason MUST be given for the pause. Reasons for a pause should be legitimate and breaks should be kept to a minimum. Abusing the pause functionality can be punishable under the discretion of an ESEA admin. The command to initiate a pause, is .tac for pauses of a tactical nature or .tech for pauses of a technical nature.

If a player is believed to have faked technical issues, such as connection problems, ESEA admins reserve the right to punish the offender following the punishment guidelines in Section 18.

In the event that a technical issue effects all users in a server and results in a game that is either unplayable, unable to be completed or was heavily affected by the bug, the game will be cancelled and no players will gain nor receive points.

13 - MATCH CANCELS

In the event that a technical issue results in a pause deemed too long or the issue cannot be resolved, the teams may agree to cancel the match. However, should the score be close to completion or an absolute blowout (i.e. 15-9, 13-1) it is preferred by ESEA staff to see the match played out. By cancelling matches at blowout score lines, it opens the door to fraudulent tech issues in an effort to prevent losing/gaining points/money and thus, fixing the scoreboard for the benefit of the offender. As mentioned above, this entirely unacceptable but its better to not allow the possibility of it occurring. Any match that is cancelled will have no effect on standings and no players will receive or lose points.

14 - MOVE UPS

Every 2 weeks, ESEA will bring in the Top 5 players from the A+ tournament weekends into Rank G (In Australia/BR the top player from A+ tournament weekends will be moved into Rank S). As such, no player is inherently safe in Rank G. Below are the only times any player will be deemed unremovable from Rank G.

ESEA Staff Discretion. Only when a player is believed to be a strong presence in our community

Qualifying for MDL

Qualifying for Advanced Playoffs

In addition to these move ups into Rank G, the top 2 players from Rank G will be moved up at the end of every season. Every player moved up from Rank G (or A+ depending upon region) plays under a provisional period. If it is found that the player is not fitting in well or is unable to compete at the appropriate level, they will be moved back to Rank G (or A+ depending upon region) and spoken to by the Community Manager.

15 - MOVE DOWNS

Rank G as a whole has no maximum user limit but move downs are required to guarantee the environment stays as competitively viable as possible. The following are reasons a user may be moved out of Rank G:

Lack of activityPoor performanceExcessive player complaintsExcessive violation of Conduct Policy

In addition, ESEA reserves the right to remove any users it deems fit, at any point in time. While this is an unlikely scenario, occasionally players will find ways to disrupt the competitive nature of Rank G or seek to use malicious means to produce a favorable end result. In instances such as these, where the rulebook may not explicitly state the nature of their malfeasance as illegal, ESEA needs to be able to remove or sometimes even ban these players to retain the competitive integrity of Rank G.

16 - MEDIA

ESEA reserves the right to use matches played on ESEA servers for Rank G or clips of matches played on ESEA servers for Rank G in any marketing materials on any medium to promote Rank G or ESEA. Player names and likenesses may be visible in these materials and will not be censored, blurred or covered in any way.

17 - STREAMING

As mentioned above, players are not only allowed to broadcast their content to their channel of choice, they are encouraged to do so. There is no restrictions imposed by ESEA regarding the broadcast of Rank G and you are free to do as you see fit with your channel and broadcast graphics. While we encourage streaming, we also encourage paying attention to the game. As a player in Rank G, your attention should be focused on the game first and your stream second. Additionally, you are still required to uphold the portions of the code of conduct as seen above in Section 3. Any player believed to have violated these policies or the conduct policy may be subject to punishment as deemed appropriate according to both the conduct policy and the chart of punishments as seen in Section 18.

18 - PUNISHMENT

If any player is believed to have violated any of the rules within the player handbook, they may be subjected to punishment as specified below:1st Offense: Warning.2nd Offense: 24 hour ban from Rank S. Pugs and league matches remain playable.3rd Offense: 3 day ban from Rank S. Pugs and league matches remain playable.4th Offense: 7 day ban from Rank S. Pugs and League matches remain playable5th Offense: 14 day ban from Rank S. Pugs and League matches remain playable.6th Offense: Removal from Rank S for a minimum of 1 month. At admin discretion, removal may be deemed permanent.

Players who reach 6 offenses will be placed in A+. Should they wish to compete in Rank G, a period of 3 months with 0 negative activity from the account is required before being considered for invitation back. Players will be eligible to requalify through A+ after the suspension has been served.

19 - AGREEMENT

By playing on ESEA, you agree to the aforementioned terms and conditions, as well as any additional terms and conditions that apply to ESEA and its services. Failure to read this handbook is not a valid reason for a violation of the rules that lie within and players will be subject to punishment irregardless.